A teen girl with severe dairy allergies was served a hot chocolate with cow’s milk by a Costa barista after an alleged miscommunication, an inquest heard today.
Hannah Jacobs, 13, died just hours after taking one sip from a drink her mother had ordered for her in Barking, East London.
Abimbola Duyile claims she asked for two soya milk hot chocolates, telling Costa employee Urmi Akter her daughter had allergies.
However, giving evidence at East London Coroner’s Court today, Ms Akter told the hearing Ms Duyile asked for one regular and one medium hot chocolate.
She says the mother asked for her medium drink to be ‘extra hot’ and for her daughter’s to be ‘normal’.
Ms Akter admitted Ms Duyile told her of her daughter’s dairy allergies – but says she only asked for the jug used to froth milk to be thoroughly washed.
Hannah had taken a sip of a hot chocolate purchased at a Costa Coffee branchÂ
Hannah Jacobs, 13, of Barking, East London, died following a suspected anaphylactic reaction
Hannah was pronounced dead at Newham General Hospital in East London
Ms Akter, who had a Bengali translator with her, said she had not heard Ms Duyile say she wanted two soya milk hot chocolates – despite the mother saying this was what she had ordered yesterday.
Ms Akter said she washed the jug between making the two hot chocolates – both made with cow’s milk by colleague Nicoleta Matei – as the mother requested.
Hannah began vomiting in a dental practice after taking just one sip from her drink.
In a statement read to the court by Assistant Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe, Ms Akter, who had been working at the Barking franchise of Costa Coffee for eight months at the time of the incident in February last year, said Hannah had appeared ‘angry’ at her mother as they ordered their drinks.
‘The mother said, ‘I want two hot chocolates – one small one medium… Can you wash the [milk] jug because my daughter has a dairy allergy’.
‘You said, ‘You are asking me to wash the jug but the hot chocolate is made with milk, but you say she has an allergy to milk’.
‘[Ms Duyile] said: ‘That’s fine, just wash the jug’.
‘You passed the order to your colleague, Nicoleta, so she could make the drinks.
‘You took the jug and washed it properly [after the mother’s drink was made]. You gave it [back] to your colleague.’
Hannah Jacobs, 13, of Barking, East London, died following a suspected anaphylactic reaction
Despite Costa’s allergy training instructing staff to show an ‘allergy book’ to customers who report allergies, Ms Akter did not do so, the hearing was told.
Dr Radcliffe, continuing to read from Ms Akter’s police report, went on: ‘You said, ‘You are asking me to wash the jug but a hot chocolate is made with milk’.
‘[Ms Duyile] said: ‘That is fine. Give me extra hot and my daughter’s normal’.
‘Your colleague made the drinks – the extra hot first – and passed it [to the mother].
‘Then you took the jug and as the mother had requested and washed it properly.
‘You then gave it to your colleague who made the [second] drink.
‘[Ms Duyile] said, ‘Thank you, darling’, and then left.
‘[You say] you have four non-dairy milks. ‘They must ask for it and we will give it’.
‘You say, ‘She never asked for non-dairy [milk], she just asked me to wash the jug’.
‘You were asked: did you think about showing the intolerance book?’
Dr Radcliffe then asked Ms Akter a series of further questions.
However, Julia Kendrick, representing Ms Akter, continually warned her client that she didn’t have to answer questions that could expose her to criminal liability, under Rule 22.
Dr Radcliffe asked: ‘Have you ever had any difficulty understanding what someone has said from behind the [perspex] screen [of the Costa till]?’
‘Not too much,’ Ms Akter replied. ‘Sometimes…’
Dr Radcliffe continued: ‘In your training, if someone mentions they have an allergy there is the allergy book under the till…
‘Why did you not show the allergy book [to Ms Duyile]?’
Warned by Ms Kendrick, who said ‘Rule 22’ before her client could reply, Ms Akter said: ‘No answer.’
‘Am I going to get no answer for these Rule 22 questions?’, Dr Radcliffe asked.
‘Yes,’ came Ms Kendrick’s reply.
Dr Radcliffe pressed on anyway, asking: ‘Did you not think it was strange that the mother was asking you to wash out the jug between making the two drinks when they were both being made the same?
‘As far as I understand, you said the mother mentioned the dairy allergy.
‘The book was not shown to the mother, and the only thing done was to make one drink, wash the jug and make the other drink…’
Emily Slocombe, Hannah’s family’s lawyer, also received responses of either ‘no answer’ or ‘no comment’ from Ms Akter to her questions.
‘Do you remember being given allergy training?’ Ms Slocombe asked.
‘Was any training given in your native language? Any refresher training? Did you understand what an allergen was? Did you know the potential consequences of being exposed to allergens?’
‘No answer,’ replied Ms Akter to all questions.
‘You heard Abi (Ms Duyile) say she ordered two soya hot chocolates,’ Ms Slocombe said.
‘Is that what you heard?’
Again, Ms Akter replied: ‘No answer.’
Ms Slocombe added: ‘You heard in [mother] Abi’s evidence that she said you didn’t reply to her, didn’t say anything to her.
‘If you had got out the allergy book and shown and discussed this with Hannah’s mother, this would have been an opportunity for any miscommunications to be cleared up, wouldn’t it?
‘You didn’t repeat the order back to Abi, did you?
‘Knowing [about] a severe dairy allergy, why didn’t you confirm that cows milk was being used?
‘Since you had taken the order, did you tell Nicoleta about the order?’
Ms Akter again gave no answer to the questions.
Upon having an allergic reaction to her drink – which she immediately told her mother was ‘not soya milk’ – Hannah began vomiting at a dental practice in Barking, where she had gone for an emergency examination and extraction.
Dentist Iqra Farhad told the inquest she had offered Ms Duyile an EpiPen with 300mg of adrenaline, which doctors say could have saved her life.
But Ms Farhad, giving evidence via video link from Pakistan, said Ms Duyile had refused the epi-pen and instead left with her daughter to get antihistamines from a nearby pharmacy.
‘When I spoke to the patient she said she’s fine and wanted to have the extraction done today.
‘[Hannah] spat up a white liquid. The mum was all fine. When the child [went to the toilet] the mum asked me to reschedule the appointment.
‘There was no sign of panicking or distress.’
Dr Radcliffe asked: ‘You are aware that an epi-pen can be life-saving, and there’s little harm to be done by using it if in doubt?’
‘Yes,’ Ms Farhad replied.
‘And you had EpiPens on the premises?’ the coroner added.
Ms Farhad said: ‘Yes. When the child left the room, I think one of the nurses asked mum if she needed an EpiPen, which mum refused.
‘I am mum to a daughter severely allergic to nuts. I have been told by doctors when I need to give an EpiPen.
‘Mum did mention she was going to the pharmacy to get [the antihistemine] cetirizine.
‘I didn’t think it was the point where we needed an EpiPen.
Ms Duyile shook her head in the coroner’s court whilst listening to some of Ms Farhad’s answers.
The inquest continues.
